Parisians vote to elect mayor amid virus scare

A person walks by metal panels intended for the posting of campaign posters for France's March 2020 mayoral elections in Paris ahead of the first round of the mayoral elections in France on March 14, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

Paris votes in the first round of mayoral elections on Sunday but in a tight race, polls say there is only one certainty -- the next incumbent will be a woman.

Local elections are held across the country, but the rapid acceleration of the coronavirus has led to officials fearing the vote could see mass abstentions with some politicians demanding a last minute postponement.

Voters are set to choose mayors for 35,000 town halls and almost half a million councilors in a vote overshadowed by the coronavirus outbreak and by growing public skepticism about traditional politics in France.

Authorities said on Saturday that 91 people had been killed by the virus and more than 4,500 were infected, including 300 who were in intensive care.

That prompted Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Saturday evening to shut most shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities from midnight and urge people to stay at home.

The government had already decided to close schools from Monday and urged those over 70 stay home as much as possible.

However, Philippe confirmed that the election would proceed under strict health guidelines with people asked to keep their distance from one another.

Voters are being asked to follow strict procedures such as not to get too close to other voters and bring their own pens to sign official documents.

Who will be elected Paris mayor?

In Paris, two ex-ministers and the current occupant are fighting it out for the most high-profile job in local government in a country where mayors are important in the political landscape and where local support boosts chances of winning national elections.

A matter of months ago, the Paris job seemed within the grasp of President Emmanuel Macron's LREM party which won more than two thirds of parliamentary seats in the capital in the 2017 election and came top in the European vote in 2019.

But the campaign of Macron's close ally Benjamin Griveaux faltered and then collapsed abruptly in February after a sex tape emerged which he allegedly sent to a woman who was not his wife.

He was rapidly replaced by Health Minister Agnes Buzyn who faced criticism for quitting just as a coronavirus epidemic took hold in Europe.

"I'm campaigning focusing on the first round of the election and my aim is to come first in every district," Buzyn told journalists on Tuesday.

French center-liberal ruling party La Republique en Marche (LREM) candidate as mayor of Paris Agnes Buzyn (R) talks with a woman on March 12, 2020 in the 18th arrondissement (borough) of Paris, three days ahead of the French mayoral elections. (Photo by AFP)

She has, however, struggled to close the gap with her rivals on the right and left, with a centrist pitch which polling expert Jean-Daniel Levy said has not struck a chord with voters.

"Voting for Agnes Buzyn is more difficult for voters to understand," he said on Wednesday.

The current front runner in the contest is the incumbent Anne Hidalgo, despite polls indicating that a majority of residents are not happy with her record.

But the number of candidates looks likely to split the vote in the first round, favoring Hidalgo, who can also count on more easy alliances with her rivals when it comes to the second round set for March 22.

She has highlighted her record on green issues including new bike lanes and the contested pedestrianization of a section of highway along the banks of the River Seine.

The surprise of the campaign has been the conservatives' candidate Rachida Dati, a former justice minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose ratings have climbed, with some polls even seeing her top the first round.

The mayor of Paris is not directly elected by residents of the city but picked by the top-placed candidates running to be local councilors in each of the city's administrative districts -- making the results more opaque.

The candidates have stressed their green credentials but much of the campaign has centered around local themes including the cleanliness of the capital's streets and the crime rate.

A picture shows an election poster in Paris on March 14, 2020, on the eve of the first round of mayoral elections in France. (Photo by AFP)

But Levy told Reuters that the election would also have a national impact.

"France is a country which is centralized in quite a big way and so giving the impression that you've lost or lost badly in Paris has symbolic meaning over and above the election in Paris itself."

Source: Reuters

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